The present invention relates to the field of medical supports and stands, and more particularly, to an intravenous (IV) support assembly including a plurality of different mounting adapters, each mountable to a patient support frame, and standalone bases which are adapted to support an IV pole for carrying medical equipment.
An IV support assembly includes an IV pole for carrying medical equipment thereon and a mounting adapter separable from the IV pole. The mounting adapter is mounted to a patient support frame and can then be used to support the IV pole. The patient support frame can be a bed, stretcher, cot, and the like. As can be appreciated, the support railings or rails on the many different support frames can have many possible configurations, including rectangular, circular, and other cross-sectional configurations. The rails can also include recesses or receptacles used for mounting IV support assemblies to the rails.
In the medical and patient care environments, a need frequently arises to stably and securely mount the IV support assembly to many different patient support frames. For example, when a patient is transferred between first and second patient support frames or beds, an IV support assembly including a mounting adapter secured to the first bed and an IV pole carrying a variety of medical equipment thereon (e.g., plural IV containers and infusion pumps for a patient) must be quickly transferred and mounted to the second bed with minimal disturbance to the equipment. The IV pole itself is preferably transferred directly between the beds without having to move each piece of medical equipment individually to another pole.
Prior art IV mounting adapters and poles are unusable for direct transfer between patient support frames. For instance, the patient support frames often have different patient support rail configurations rendering the same mounting adapter unusable on both patient support frames. Even if appropriately configured mounting adapters are provided for the rails of both patient support frames, a single IV pole will generally be incompatible and thus unusable with both mounting adapters. Use of mounting adapters hung from or otherwise loosely coupled to the patient support frame facilitates IV support assembly transfer between patient support frames, but at the expense of IV pole stability.
An exemplary prior art IV support assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,372. Disclosed is an IV pole 44 supported by a mounting adapter or clamp 50 mounted to a patient support frame or stretcher 10. Mounting adapter 50 disadvantageously requires a pair of perpendicular rails 14,18, instead of a single rail. This arrangement limits the use of mounting adapter 50 to patient support frames having such perpendicularly arranged railing pairs. Because mounting adapter 50 defines through bores or channels of circular cross-section for receiving the rails, the use of mounting adapter 50 is also limited to use with the pair of perpendicular rails of circular cross-sections.
Another prior art IV support assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,036. Disclosed is an IV pole 10 hung or suspended from a rail 27 having planar outer surfaces by a mounting adapter 22. Mounting adapter 22 is a hanging bracket that can be disadvantageously dislodged or decoupled from rail 27 during transport of the bed between locations since the mounting adapter is not secured or clamped to rail 27. Additionally, because mounting adapter 27 is configured to engage the planar surfaces of rail 27, mounting adapter 27 is limited to use with such rails having planar surfaces.
Another prior art IV support assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,486. Disclosed is a patient support frame 10 having a mounting adapter 12 fixed at a predetermined location to patient support frame 10. Disadvantageously, mounting adapter 12 can not be conveniently relocated to another location on support frame 10 or to another patient support frame.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide at least one mounting adapter each configured to be mounted to a different patient support frame configuration.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an IV support assembly including at least one mounting adapter mountable to a single rail of a patient support frame and an IV pole supported by the mounting adapter.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an IV pole efficiently movable from a first mounting adapter on a first patient support frame to a second mounting adapter on a second patient support frame.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an adapter kit including a plurality of different mounting adapters each adapted for a different patient support frame configuration and each capable of supporting an IV pole.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an IV support system including a moveable stand-alone base and an upright IV pole to allow the IV pole to be easily placed in and supported by the stand-alone base with no positive locking mechanisms required. The base can be used with or without the IV pole.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by an IV support assembly including a mounting adapter and an upright IV pole. The mounting adapter is adapted to be mounted to a single rail of a patient support frame, and includes an insertion member and a locking mechanism. The IV pole is supported by the mounting adapter, and includes a hollow lower end for receiving the insertion member of the mounting adapter. The IV pole is secured to the insertion member by the locking mechanism of the insertion member. A variety of different mounting adapters each configured for a different rail configuration are available for supporting a common IV pole, so the IV pole is transferable between mounting adapters mounted to different rails.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by an IV support assembly usable with a patient support frame having a single rail, the IV support assembly including a mounting adapter adapted to be removably mounted to the single rail, and also including an upright elongate pole member supportable by the mounting adapter.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by a mounting adapter for mounting an IV pole to a single rail of a patient support frame, the IV pole having a hollow lower end, the mounting adapter including a separable clamp portion including first and second opposed, mating clamp members together defining a transverse channel for receiving the single rail. The mounting adapter also includes an insertion member extending from the first clamp member for insertion into the hollow lower end of the IV pole, and a locking member for removably securing the IV pole to the insertion member.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by a mounting adapter for mounting an intravenous IV pole to a single rail of a patient support frame, the IV pole having a hollow lower end, the single rail having a recess formed in an upper surface thereof, the mounting adapter including an elongate member having upper and lower male portions for respective removable insertion into the hollow lower end of the IV pole and the recess formed in the single rail. The mounting adapter also includes a locking mechanism for securing the hollow lower end of the IV pole to the upper male portion of the elongate member.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by an adapter kit for mounting an IV pole to a rail of a patient support frame, the IV pole having a hollow lower end, the rail having at least two configurations, the adapter kit including at least two mounting adapters respectively corresponding to the at least two rail configurations. Each of the at least two mounting adapters includes mounting means for removably mounting the mounting adapter to the rail, an insertion member for removable insertion thereof into the hollow lower end of the IV pole, and a locking mechanism for securing the hollow lower end of the IV pole to the insertion member.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by a method for mounting an intravenous (IV) support assembly to first and second patient support frames, the first patient support frame including a single rail having a first configuration, the second patient support frame including a single rail having a second configuration, the IV support assembly including an IV pole for carrying medical equipment thereon and first and second mounting adapters, the first mounting adapter having a configuration corresponding to the first configuration and the second mounting adapter having a configuration corresponding to the second configuration. The method includes the steps of mounting the first mounting adapter to the first patient support frame, supporting the IV pole with the first mounting adapter, mounting the second mounting adapter to the second patient support frame, removing the IV pole from the first mounting adapter, and supporting the IV pole with the second mounting adapter.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are also achieved by an intravenous support assembly, comprising a base and an IV pole. The base comprises at least one base member and an upright elongate pole member being connected to the base member. The upright elongate pole member has an internal hollow space communicated with the outside via an opening formed at an upper end of the upright elongate pole member, and a transverse supporting surface formed in the internal hollow space and spaced downwardly from the upper end. The IV pole has a lower end portion adapted to be telescopically received in the internal hollow space of the upright elongate pole member and fully supported from below by the transverse supporting surface.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the base comprises a lower plate member and an upper plate member having a through hole in alignment with the tube-like upright elongate pole member so as to form a passage for the IV pole. A bolt transversely extends through a circumferential wall of said tube-like upper end portion the an internal hollow space of the upright elongate pole member to define the transverse supporting surface. The base can be used as portable tray when the IV pole is not placed therein.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the IV pole is made, at least in the lower portion thereof, in form of a male portion comprising a pin of a smaller dimension extending downwardly from a flange of a larger dimension so as the IV pole may be supported a mounting adapter which is removably mountable to a patient support frame and has a recess being sized and shaped to receive the pin therein. Preferably, the lower end portion of the IV pole comprises a metal sleeve tightly encapsulating a wooden dowel in which the pin is partially embedded. The IV pole is therefore very light in weight yet mechanically strong.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a kit comprising a stand-alone moveable base, a mounting adapter and an IV pole is provided. It is also within the scope of the present invention to provide a method of using the kit to quickly move the IV pole from a patient support frame to the stand-alone moveable base and vice versa. The method comprises a) mounting the mounting adapter to a single rail of the patient support frame; b) supporting the IV pole from below by one of the base and the mounting adapter at one of first and second transverse supporting surfaces, respectively; c) removing the IV pole and inserting it into the other of the base and mounting adapter until the lower end of the IV pole rests on and is fully supported from below by the other of the first and second transverse supporting surfaces, respectively. The system and method of the present invention allows the IV pole to be easily transferable among numerous stand-alone bases and patient support frames, and steadily retained by the bases and mounting adapters mounted to the patient support frames without positive locking mechanisms.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description thereof are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.